Buddhist leader wants to know why charity funds were moved

Jan. 15, 2013

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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The Venerable Thich Quang Thanh of the Chua Bao Quang temple in Santa Ana said he learned that checks for $20,000 and $7,000, raised by the Orange County Vietnamese American community for victims of Hurricane Sandy, were cashed on Dec. 18 when he opened his bank statement last Wednesday. The Buddhist leader wants to know where the money went. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Venerable Thich Quang Thanh said he wants the money raised for Hurricane Sandy victims to go directly to the people of New York. Here, he prays at Chua Bao Quang temple in Santa Ana. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Venerable Thich Quang Thanh prays at the Santa Ana temple he designed, Chua Bao Quang. He said he wants the fund raised for Hurricane Sandy victims to go directly to the people of New York without delay. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Venerable Thich Quang Thanh said two leaders from the Vietnamese Interfaith Council in America approached him Friday night and told him to not worry about the donation money raised for victims of Hurricane Sandy because it would all be delivered to New York after the Tet Parade on Feb. 10 – which Quang Thanh said was unacceptable. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Venerable Thich Quang Thanh of the Chua Bao Quang temple in Santa Ana said he learned that checks for $20,000 and $7,000, raised by the Orange County Vietnamese American community for victims of Hurricane Sandy on the East Coast, were cashed on Dec. 18 when he opened his bank statement last Wednesday. The Buddhist leader wants to know where the money went. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Venerable Thich Quang Thanh said he doesn't want the missing donations to be used for anything other than Hurricane Sandy relief. “I want that money to go directly to the people of New York,” he said through a translator. “We don't want anybody to use that money to go in another direction.” CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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Photos of some of the several hundred people who have died that the Venerable Thich Quang Thanh prays for daily. He also prays for the victims of Hurricane Sandy. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

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The Venerable Thich Quang Thanh poses in front of the Chua Bao Quang temple in Santa Ana, which he designed and then opened in 2002. CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The Venerable Thich Quang Thanh of the Chua Bao Quang temple in Santa Ana said he learned that checks for $20,000 and $7,000, raised by the Orange County Vietnamese American community for victims of Hurricane Sandy, were cashed on Dec. 18 when he opened his bank statement last Wednesday. The Buddhist leader wants to know where the money went.CINDY YAMANAKA, ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

The leader of a Buddhist temple in Santa Ana is questioning what happened to money raised by the Orange County Vietnamese American community for victims of Hurricane Sandy.

Two checks totaling $27,000 and addressed to a New York fund were cashed in Westminster, said the Venerable Thich Quang Thanh, of the Chua Bao Quang temple.

The Buddhist leader said he learned the checks for $20,000 and $7,000 were cashed on Dec. 18 when he opened his bank statement last Wednesday. He said he was surprised because he knew that the funds – part of some $200,000 raised by the Vietnamese Interfaith Council – were to be personally delivered to New York by an Orange County delegation.

"I want that money to go directly to the people of New York," he said through a translator. "We don't want anybody to use that money to go in another direction."

On Tuesday, Orange County Board of Supervisor Janet Nguyen said she planned to refer the matter to the District Attorney's Office after receiving a letter from the Buddhist leader.

Nguyen will ask the D.A. to "investigate the process by which the checks were cashed and the current whereabouts of these funds in order to ensure they are being used for the purpose for which they were intended," according to the supervisor's spokeswoman, Christy Delp.

Quang Thanh said two leaders from the Vietnamese Interfaith Council in America approached him Friday night and told him to not worry about the money because it would all be delivered to New York after the Tet Parade on Feb. 10.

"I did not agree with that," Quang Thanh said. "Why after the Tet Parade? Why the Vietnamese people delay this long? For what? People opened their hearts so victims of Sandy could have blankets and food – so why wait?"

One of the Interfaith leaders he said he spoke with is Neil Nguyen, who is spearheading efforts in the Vietnamese American community to raise $60,000 before a Jan. 24 deadline to put on the annual Tet Parade in Westminster.

Neil Nguyen, also known as Nghia Xuan Nguyen, said Monday that an Interfaith finance subcommittee "made a mistake and deposited those checks" along with others collected following a Dec. 15 concert in Little Saigon to raise money for the victims of the hurricane that devastated the New York area.

"The cash is still there," Nguyen said Monday.

Nguyen said his nonprofit group's bank, Wells Fargo, also made a mistake because it should not have cashed the checks.

"They should have held it," he said.

Gary Kishner, a spokesman for Wells Fargo, said he could not discuss details of the transaction due to privacy laws. In response to Nguyen's assertion that the bank made a mistake, Kishner said: "Why would you deposit a check into a bank if you don't expect it to be cashed?"

But the checks were addressed to the Mayor's Fund to Advance NY City. Asked why the bank cashed checks earmarked for New York, Kishner said: "We're definitely investigating how the money got to the account where it went. We don't have all the details yet."

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's office received an email from Nguyen on Jan. 9 saying Orange County representatives want to personally deliver relief funds to New York, a spokeswoman said.

"We have not received any funds," said Evelyn Erskine, Bloomberg's deputy press secretary.

The $27,000 was raised by Quang Thanh's temple in Santa Ana, also known as the Vietnamese American Buddhist Center for Charity Services, and the Chua Lien Hoa Temple in Garden Grove. Congregants made donations at the temples and also went out into the community to collect the funds, Quang Thanh said.

Meanwhile, leaders from Orange County's Vietnamese American community last week received a special event permit for a Tet Parade on Feb. 10 after telling the Westminster City Council they could raise $60,000 needed for police and other parade services. Neil Nguyen and other leaders cited the $200,000 they recently raised for the hurricane victims to show they can quickly raise funds. Vietnamese American leaders have until Jan. 24 to raise the money or the parade will be canceled.

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